So many conspiracy theories turned out to be true that people no longer trust the official version of things. If you’re older, you may connect to the world through books and lived experience, so you won’t automatically accept what you see on the internet. If you’re young, you’re less likely to have that background, so you’re more likely to be at the mercy of what you can find on the internet.
It is getting harder and harder to sort out legitimate conspiracy facts from erroneous conspiracy theories.
There is no fair or reliable “referee”.
How do we deal with this?
Example: One poster here talked about his father who believed that the IRS no longer existed.
That we can test with a drive to a local IRS office. We can go in the door, talk to people who are there—confirm it still exists.
So—that conspiracy claim can safely be discarded.
When David Icke says the Queen of England is a reptilian alien we could not prove either the positive or the negative. Debating about it is hopeless and ultimately a waste of time.
Generally it is a good idea to give non falsifiable conspiracy theories a wide berth.
That leaves the interesting conspiracy theories—where evidence is there to look at—pro and con—and new evidence might become available to help settle the issues.
Those are the ones that are worth discussing—calmly with no name calling.